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MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE 
ON PUBLIC SAFETY 



BULLETIN OF 
THE SPEAKER'S BUREAU 



• C8M44 



D. of D. 

AUG 16 t^ 7 






MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE 
ON PUBLIC SAFETY 

BULLETIN OF 
THE SPEAKER'S BUREAU. 

The following information may be 
of value to our Speakers. 



Our National Unpreparedness. 

We have guns on the Atlantic Seaboard which 
would, if they had the proper gun carriages, out- 
range any guns carried by the war vessels of any 
nation. As a matter of fact they are mounted on 
an old style of gun carriage which will not allow 
proper elevation of the guns so that they will secure 
their full range, consequently we should be out- 
ranged by enemy war vessels from 4,000 to 6,000 
yards. 

The remodelling of these gun carriages is going 
on very slowly, so slowly that, if the rate is not 
accelerated, the guns might well be obsolete before 
the carriages are remodelled. 

There is not a single piece of modern heavy field 
artillery made or even designed. There is not a 



fighting aeroplane of the fastest type, — in fact this 
country has only recently succeeded in copying 
a foreign aeroplane motor, such as would be suit- 
able for the swiftest war-planes. We fall far short 
of sufficient "school aeroplanes" for instructive 
purposes. In France they lose about 25 aeroplanes 
per day in the instruction camps alone. Our wire- 
less apparatus is so incomplete that at the time of 
the trouble on the Mexican Border we had to take 
equipment from the Panama Canal to supply the 
deficiency. Our regular troops, few as they are, are 
underhorsed, undermanned, and undergunned. 

The British allotment of machine guns is 72 to 
each 2,000 men; our allotment is 6, and of our guns 
the only ones not practically obsolete are 240 Lewis 
machine guns loaned us by the British Government 
out of the contract being filled for it by American 
manufacturers. Our Government has not yet de- 
cided what type of heavy machine gun it would use, 
to say nothing of placing an order for its manu- 
facture. How serious this latter statement is may 
be judged by reading the accounts of field operations 
in France, where the absolute necessity for field 
artillery is very evident. 

With our present artillery equipment our army 
could not stand for a moment against the heavy 
artillery that could be landed on our shores and 
brought into use against us. It is true that we are 
making vast quantities of munitions for the Allies, 
and these munition manufacturers could give us 
great supplies of shells, but we haven't the guns to 



shoot them. There are very few plants in the 
United States equipped to make heavy ordnance, 
and, if they were equipped, gun making is a slow 
process. 

Experience in the present war has taught that 
the minimum requirement is two rifles per man per 
year. For our present authorized Land Forces 
(500,000 Regulars and National Guard and 500,000 
Volunteers — a total that must be greatly increased) 
we have .65 of a rifle per man, and to bring this up 
to the aforesaid minimum requirement would take 
our Government arsenals 4^ years. 

We have no hospital cars, and our ordinary 
coaches are so constructed that a wounded man 
on a stretcher cannot be put into a car without 
uncoupling the train, or using the rear door of the 
end coach. 

If our whole fleet put to sea to-night, all our 
ammunition for 14-inch guns would be afloat. 
There is no reserve supply and it takes months to 
make 14-inch shells. 

Our range finders are made abroad and can no 
longer be obtained. We are so short of them that 
the one in use at Harvard University for the in- 
struction of young men training to become officers 
has been removed to be installed in Boston Harbor. 

Equally unprepared are we in another way, 
essential in successful prosecution of war — we do 
not know how to economize, as a nation or as in- 
dividuals. It is well to lay stress on food produc- 
tion, and the work being done on that line will be 



of value though handicapped by the shortage of 
labor; but it is equally important to instruct in 
the economical use of food supplies. A man, once 
the contractor for the garbage disposal of a large 
town, a suburb of Boston, states that enough food 
is wasted in that community to feed a population 
nearly a half again as large. The waste in hotels 
and restaurants is notorious, but the waste in 
private families is often nearly as great. Here is 
one way in which our women may help in this war. 

How Our Allies have Prepared. 

Few of us realize what has been done abroad. 

There are 40 million men under arms in the bel- 
ligerent countries, exclusive of 5 million in hospitals, 
6 million held prisoner, and an untold number in- 
capacitated for further service — and there are 5 
million dead. 

England has found that it costs $1,250 to turn a 
recruit into a soldier fit for the first-line trench. 
Between Bar-le-Duc and Verdun, over 50,000 motor 
cars and trucks are in continuous operation. Eng- 
land, when the war began, had only 480 field guns 
of 3-inch or greater calibre; to-day, along the 120 
miles of trench she holds, there is not a spot on which 
she cannot bring to bear 480 field guns of 3-inch or 
greater calibre. 

On one occasion, when the French suspected that 
the Germans were bringing up a liquid fire outfit at 
Verdun, they dropped 43,000 shells in a space a 



quarter of a mile square. The Germans in four hours 
have hurled 10,000 tons of projectiles. 

Behind the front at the Somme is a supply depot. 
Packed closely are cannon, shells, barbed wire, sheet 
metal, timber, food, and forage,— only narrow lanes 
divide this material so that it is readily accessible — 
and the depot is 36 miles long and 10 miles wide. 

What the Massachusetts Committee on Public 
Safety is doing to aid Preparedness. 

The Committee of One Hundred was appointed 
by the Governor, who, on the 10th of February, sent 
through his Secretary a letter to one hundred citi- 
zens of the Commonwealth asking them to serve 
on such a committee, "in order that Massachusetts 
may be ready in the event of any National emergency, 
to co-operate with the Federal and State officials to 
the full extent of her resources." 

Our first effort has been to build a piece of ma- 
chinery which may be of service in preparedness 
work and to urge the construction of a similar piece 
of machinery in every community in the State. 

The bulletins (dated April 10th) already sent you, 
explain the scope of work of such sub-committees of 
Local Public Safety committees as we recommend be 
formed, and, of course, indicate the work being done 
by our own corresponding sub-committees. 

The work of our other sub-committees is as fol- 
lows: 



Committee on Industrial Survey. 

A committee designed to assist the Federal Gov- 
ernment and to supplement the work of its National 
Council of Defense in making a survey of all the 
factories of the State with a view of determining 
what they could best be used for in case of war. 
This Committee has persuaded the Federal Gov- 
ernment to release the blueprints and specifications 
for shells, so that American manufacturers can ex- 
amine them and determine what machinery they 
should provide if they were called suddenly to man- 
ufacture them. 

In England and Scotland there are now being 
turned out every 48 hours more munitions than those 
countries manufactured during the whole first year 
of the war. We know little in this country of the 
preciseness necessary for the proper manufacture of 
munitions. Here is one illustration: the time fuse 
of a 75 millimeter shell must be so accurate that at a 
distance of 3 to 5 miles it will explode a shell within 42 
feet of the mark. That is the requirement imposed 
by the French military authorities. And so well 
have the women fuse-makers of France done their 
work that the average test shows an explosion 
within nine feet of the mark. 

Committee on Military Equipment and Supply. 

This Committee is informing itself where neces- 
sary equipment and supplies for Massachusetts 



troops may be quickly purchased in case the Federal 
or State Governments fail to act quickly enough. 

It already has located and has purchased most 
of the equipment that will be needed by the Home 
Guard. There is no longer reason to fear that 
Massachusetts will be slow in properly equipping 
her soldiers — the one-million-dollar appropriation 
by our Legislature has assured us of that. This 
money may be used by the Governor, with the 
approval of the Council, for any emergency pur- 
pose; but our Committee can be very useful in 
co-operating with the State military officials in 
securing supplies. So far as the Federal Govern- 
ment is concerned it has already been shown that 
there will be delay in getting needed supplies from 
that quarter. 

Committee on Mobilization and Concentration 

Camps. 

This Committee has investigated and found 
suitable location for camps where the National 
Guard or the Home Guard may be mobilized, and 
where aliens of a hostile government may be in- 
terned. Such camps must not be too near the 
coast, must be near railroads running east and west 
and north and south, and on ground suitably 
drained. 

Committee on Horses. 

One of the things impossible to obtain quickly 
in time of war are sufficient horses for military 



10 

purposes, and a census of the horses available has 
been made. Although no great number is avail- 
able in Massachusetts and most of the horses 
must come from the West, it is interesting to note 
that city horses, particularly horses of the type 
used on milk wagons, delivery wagons, etc., are 
the best. Horses from the country are more 
easily frightened and — even more serious — are more 
apt to suffer from disease when brought into the 
crowded conditions which result from mobilization. 



Committee on Transportation. 

The object of this Committee is apparent from its 
name. It must arrange for the quick transporta- 
tion not only of troops, but of supplies or materials 
of any sort. In a battle in France lasting four 
hours 10,000 tons of projectiles were used. This 
indicates the transportation problem this Com- 
mittee must deal with. 

The Committee is also co-operating in the work 
of guarding transportation lines, particularly points 
such as bridges, tunnels, etc., damage to which 
would seriously cripple service. 

Committee on Land Forces. 

This Committee is co-operating with similar com- 
mittees in all the other New England States, for 
New England constitutes a single military division, — 
the Fifth. As a division we lack several necessary 



11 

units — we have no regiment of engineers, no avia- 
tion corps, no transportation trains, and efforts are 
being made to supply the deficiency. This Com- 
mittee has handled the thousand or more inquiries 
that have been made relative to the officers' reserve 
corps. 

Committee on Naval Forces. 

This Committee is co-operating with similar 
committees in Maine and New Hampshire, the 
First Naval District, extending from Eastport to 
Chatham light. It has enrolled a large number 
of motor patrol boats and provided for manning 
them, and has successfully urged the construction 
of others by private citizens for the use of the 
Government. It has also provided for a naval 
aviation station and is arranging for the construc- 
tion of hangars for four aeroplanes at an expense 
of $50,000. At this station squads of thirty men 
can be trained for aviation, and there will be three 
instructors for the purpose. 

Committee on Hygiene, Medicine, and 
Sanitation. 

This Committee is acting with the Committee 
on Mobilization and Concentration Camps in the 
important matter of securing suitable sanitary 
conditions at places where camps will be established. 
It is also looking after the physical condition of the 
enlisted men and men willing to enlist. A large 



12 

percentage of rejections of men volunteering for 
military service is caused by defective teeth, and 
in many cases this difficulty may be removed by 
proper dental work. Many dentists in Massa- 
chusetts are giving an hour or two of their time each 
day for this service. 

Such, briefly sketched, is the work of the Public 
Safety Committee; such in not quite so broad a 
scope, perhaps, but of equal importance, should be 
the work of each local Public Safety Committee. 
Our work so far has been chiefly devoted to building 
up our organization and in stimulating similar action 
in every community, but some real work of ac- 
complishment has also been done; for example, 
through the efforts of our Committee requisitions 
for equipment for the National Guard aggregating 
$200,000 were honored at Washington. That was 
the last allotment made by the Militia Bureau 
before the War Department issued instructions that 
no further allotments were to be made, Congress 
having adjourned without making the necessary 
appropriations. Even then we lacked about 
$750,000 worth of equipment. We were determined 
to get it, and finally the War Department agreed 
to issue it if Massachusetts would agree to pay for 
it if the Federal Government did not. The agree- 
ment was made and as a result the full war strength 
of the Massachusetts National Guard will be 
completely equipped weeks before the Guard of 
any other State in the Union. 



13 

On their first night on duty the soldiers of the 
9th Regiment guarding railroad bridges near Boston 
and at the Watertown Arsenal were forced to sleep 
on the ground. The next day the attention of the 
Committee being called to the matter, wooden 
floors were provided for the tents and in some 
instances the men were provided with election 
booths loaned by the City of Boston. A day or 
two later a snowstorm, unusually severe for April, 
caught the soldiers unprepared with rubbers and 
they were immediately supplied by our Committee. 
Small things, perhaps, but essential for the comfort 
of our soldiers, who should, at least, be spared un- 
necessary hardships. 

What Youe Local Committee on Public Safety 
can Do. 

Follow the suggestions in our bulletins as far as 
you deem them adaptable to your community. 
Consult freely with any of our organization and 
have the chairmen of your sub-committees confer 
with the chairmen of our corresponding sub-com- 
mittees. 

And finally impress upon the people of your 
community the need of thorough preparedness. 
We may not always have the Allied fleets to protect 
us. Even though we enjoy that protection our 
responsibilities are enormous. Canada has sent 
425,000 volunteers. Were we to contribute in the 
same proportion we would require five million men. 



14 

Our men must be trained thoroughly. The Allies 
no longer send to the front men who are merely good 
riflemen. They must either be expert hand-grenade 
throwers or expert machine-gun operators as well. 
For every man at the front there must be ten men 
behind the line working for success. And to all of us 
not more actively engaged is given the opportunity 
of practising those principles of economy, of forti- 
tude, of willingness to serve, that alone can bring — 
or justify — our victory. 

April 16, 1917. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 933 457 4 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 933 457 4 



